When a PDF copy is the better attachment
A .docx is a working file. It reflows depending on the fonts, the Word version and even the printer driver on the machine that opens it, so a CV that fits neatly on two pages for you can spill onto a third for a recruiter using another app. A PDF fixes the layout, cannot be accidentally edited, and opens on any phone without an office suite.
Typical reasons to convert:
- Job applications, where portals often accept PDF only and recruiters read on a phone.
- Invoices, quotes and letters that should look final.
- Documents for printing at a copy shop, where the shop computer may lack your fonts.
- Forms and statements submitted to banks, schools or public offices.
Keep the .docx as your master copy and produce a fresh PDF whenever the content changes.
How the conversion works
Nothing is uploaded. The page reads the .docx in your browser and renders it as a preview: paragraphs, styles, tables, images, lists, headers, footers, footnotes and endnotes are laid out page by page at the size and margins stored in the document. Fonts embedded in the file are used; for others, your device's installed fonts are used.
The PDF itself is written by your browser's own print engine when you choose "Save as PDF". This has a practical benefit over converters that take screenshots of pages: text in the result stays real text, so it can be searched, selected and copied, and it stays sharp at any zoom.
The tool takes one .docx file at a time, up to 50 MB.
Print dialog settings that matter
The quality of the PDF depends largely on a few options in the print dialog. They are named slightly differently in each browser, but the same ones exist everywhere.
- Destination. Choose "Save as PDF" in Chrome and Edge, or "Save to PDF" in Firefox. On a Mac in Safari, use the PDF button at the bottom of the dialog.
- Paper size. Match the document. A4 is 210×297 mm and is used almost everywhere outside North America; US Letter is 8.5×11 inches. A mismatch shrinks the page or leaves a wide strip at the bottom.
- Margins. Set them to "None". The document already carries its own margins, so the browser's default margin is added on top and pushes content toward the next page.
- Headers and footers. Switch this off. Otherwise the browser stamps the date, the page title and a page counter onto every page.
- Background graphics. Turn this on if the document has shaded table cells, coloured boxes or a coloured page background; otherwise they print white.
- Scale. Leave it at 100% unless pages split awkwardly, then try 95% or 90%.
Before saving, compare the page count in the print preview with the one Word shows. If it differs by a page or two, the margin and scale settings are the usual cause.
Differences from Word to watch for
The preview is rendered by a browser, not by Word, so some details can come out differently:
- Page breaks. Manual page breaks and section breaks are respected, but within a section the browser decides where each page ends. A page may finish a few lines earlier or later than in Word. If a heading lands alone at the bottom of a page, insert a manual page break before it in Word and convert again.
- Fonts. A document set in a font that is neither embedded nor installed on your device is shown in a substitute, which changes line lengths. Calibri and Cambria, for example, are often missing on Linux and Android. Either convert on a computer that has the fonts or embed them when saving in Word.
- Headers, footers and page numbers. These can appear once per section of the document rather than on every printed page, and page-number fields are not recalculated for the browser's pagination. For documents where they matter, check the result page by page.
- Comments and tracked changes. Comments are not shown. Accept or reject tracked changes in Word before converting so the PDF reflects the version you intend.
- Old .doc files. Only the .docx format is read. Open a .doc in Word or LibreOffice and save it as .docx first.
If clicking the button seems to do nothing, the browser has probably blocked the new window that holds the printable document. Allow pop-ups for the site and click again.
Finishing the PDF
Image-heavy documents can produce large PDFs. If the file is too big for an email or an upload form, run it through Compress PDF. To send a cover letter and a CV as one attachment, convert both and join them with Merge PDF.